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rigid
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As an adjective, rigid means stiff, rather than flexible. As a noun, it means an airship whose shape is maintained solely by an internal and/or external rigid structural framework, without using internal gas pressure to stiffen the vehicle (the lifting gas is at atmospheric pressure).
Meanings of rigid
10 meaningsadjective
Stiff, rather than flexible.
Fixed, rather than moving.
Rigorous and unbending.
Uncompromising.
Incapable of or resistant to bending
“a rigid strip of metal”
“a table made of rigid plastic”
“a palace guardsman stiff as a poker”
Similar: stiffIncapable of compromise or flexibility
Similar: strictIncapable of adapting or changing to meet circumstances
“a rigid disciplinarian”
“an inflexible law”
“an unbending will to dominate”
Similar: inflexible, unbendingDesignating an airship or dirigible having a form maintained by a stiff unyielding frame or structure
noun
aviationAn airship whose shape is maintained solely by an internal and/or external rigid structural framework, without using internal gas pressure to stiffen the vehicle (the lifting gas is at atmospheric pressure); typically also equipped with multiple redundant gasbags, unlike other types of airship.
“The rigid could reach the greatest sizes and speeds of any airship, but was expensive to build and bulky to store. Rigids fell out of favor after the R101 and Hindenburg disasters made the type seem unsafe to the travelling public.”
A bicycle with no suspension system.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).